US Concerned About Mounting Crisis In Somalia

US
Concerned About Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia

The United States Wednesday expressed serious
concern about the humanitarian situation in Somalia, where
an estimated one million people have been displaced by civil
warfare, mainly around the capital Mogadishu. The chief U.S.
diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, says it is time for
Somali moderates to come forward and work to end chronic
violence.

The relative optimism about the situation in
Somalia that prevailed in Washington earlier this year has
been replaced by deepening concern that civil strife is
again spinning out of control.

The U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees said this week an exodus of Somalis displaced
by fighting in Mogadishu has rapidly accelerated, and that a
million people are homeless in a crisis that is in some ways
more severe than the situation in Sudan's Darfur
region.

In a written statement Wednesday, the State
Department urged all parties in the Somali conflict to
ensure unfettered delivery of humanitarian aid to those
affected, and said the United States will work with
international partners and aid donors to respond to the
needs of Somalis.

At the same time, it appealed for an
effective cease-fire to reduce the level of violence, and it
urged all Somali parties to renew dialogue and commit to a
non-violent political process.

In an interview with VOA,
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi
Frazer said blame for the surge in violence in Mogadishu is
shared by political extremists as well as forces of the
country's transitional government and the Ethiopian troops
who intervened in its behalf at the end of last
year.

Frazer said the United States will continue to work
for full deployment of the African Union peacekeeping force
for Somalia authorized by the United Nations nearly a year
ago, but which is still under-subscribed.

However she said
peace will not return to the country, which has been without
effective central governance since 1991, until moderates
from all factions come together and support peace. "It's for
the Somalis themselves to come together. That is something
that the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative
Ould Abdallah (of Mauritania) said. He said where are the
Somali patriots? Where are the moderate voices within
Somalia, to isolate the extremists and have a legitimate
opposition. Either join the transitional federal government,
or be in opposition to it. But do it through a political
process. That's the key," she said.

Frazer said for the
increasingly-unpopular Ethiopian troops to withdraw, the
full 8,000-member A.U. peace force needs to deploy.

At
present only 1,600 Ugandan troops are in place. But the
chief U.S. Africa diplomat said the United States is
training Burundian troops for duty in Somalia and pressing
other countries, including Nigeria and Ghana to take part,
while remaining ready to provide logistical support.

In
the interview, Frazer accused neighboring Eritrea of
supporting Somali extremists and giving haven to radicals
who fled the country after Ethiopia intervened, and said the
Bush administration continues to consider putting Eritrea on
its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

She also
reiterated U.S. calls on Eritrea and Ethiopia for restraint
in their border dispute, as a deadline for delineating the
boundary under a U.N. settlement plan approaches.

"We have
seen the deployment of forces along the border between
Eritrea and Ethiopia and that creates tremendous concern
about miscalculation. But I think it's neither in the
interest of Ethiopia or Eritrea to go back to war. So the
main concern is that we clearly state that they need to
resolve their problems, particularly on that border, through
diplomacy, through the U.N. process that's under way," she
said.

Frazer said the U.N. plan requires concessions by
both parties and said the United States does not take sides
in the border issue despite strained relations with the
Asmara government.

The Algiers accord in 2000 that ended
a two-year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea set up a
demilitarized zone and a commission to adjudicate the
boundary. The U.N. panel is completing its work without
achieving a mutually acceptable settlement, and a disputed
previous border plan is to take affect late this
month.

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